


Asterion and the treason of Ariadne

by BlueFloyd



Series: Old myths, new twists [4]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Or rather alternate mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-06-24 21:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19732117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFloyd/pseuds/BlueFloyd
Summary: This is an old story. The story of how Asterion, the wise prince of Crete, fought off Athenians assassins and the treachery of his own sister. How he overcame them all with his wits, killed Theseus and exiled Ariadne to Naxos. This is the story of how the reign of the Bull of Crete started.





	Asterion and the treason of Ariadne

Once upon a time, there was an island. Crete was its name. It was a place favored by the Gods. And especially by Poseidon, the god of the Sea, who considered the island as one of the jewels decorating the surface of his domain. The Cretans were hardworking and religious people. Crete was a land of abundance, but they did not considered it a reason not to be enterprising. Freed from the labor of the fields by the bountiful nature, the Cretan erected palaces, discussed philosophy, practiced the arts, explored the wine-colored sea surrounding their home, and traded with numberless people. Crete was a lighthouse of culture throughout the whole sea, and the Cretan ships were a bridge between people.

But where there is beauty, there is envy. On the continent, the people of Athens were jealous of Crete. They assembled an army, and built ships. They landed on the shores of Crete, and waged war. The sand became red with blood, the temple of Crete were desecrated by battles without honor. Cretans were not used to war, but they fought hard. In the end Crete prevailed, but it was a bitter victory. Androgeus, the prince of Crete, died in the last battle of the war, sacrifying himself to hold a position that was essential to ensure the victory of the Cretan army. The Athenians surrendered, and to make sure such a war would not happen again, Crete made Athens its vassal. It was so that Athens became the first colony of Crete on the continent.

Minos, the king of Crete, was devastated by the loss of his elder son. He prayed to Hades, god of the Underworld, to give him back his son. But Hades would not grant such a request. The ruler of the Hells is a possessive one, and those who became his subjects can never go back to the world above. Minos prayed to Zeus, his father and the king of Gods, to intercede to Hades, but Zeus knew his brother, and would not interfere. In the end, it was Poseidon, who loved Crete so much, who answered to Minos prayers. He could not bring back Androgeus, but he gave a new son to Minos. Poseidon took human form, and came to the king in his chambers. They made love, and soon Minos found himself bearing the child of the god. The pregnancy was quite uneventful, except for the never-ending parade of Cretan coming to see the round belly of their king.

After nine months, the king heard a voice coming from his insides : "Father, let me out.". The best doctors of Crete were called to his side. With every precaution, they cut open the belly of the king, and took the child out. It was an healthy child, but it wasn't quite human. His face looked somewhat like the face of a calf. Minos was alarmed, but his wife, Pasiphaé, calmed his anguish. "Our son is half human and half-god, Minos. He talks already and doesn't look quite human. So what ? We can't judge demigod by human standards, and we shouldn't. He is a blessing on our household and on all of Crete. Now is the time for celebrations." Minos bowed before such wisdom. Since he was recovering from the birth of his son, the Queen organized the celebrations. Numerous sacrifices were made to the gods. Since Asterion - for it was the name given to the newborn prince, in memory of his grandfather - had similarities to a calf, Pasiphaé sacrificed the finest bull in all of Crete to Poseidon, a bull with a mane white as snow. All of Crete danced and sung and prayed. Wine flowed to the cups and to the altars. The festivities lasted three days.

Life went back to normal in Crete, except for one thing: the young prince quickly became the first advisor to the throne. He was exceptionally intelligent. Under his gentle guidance, Crete thrived even more. Artists and philosophers were coming from all over the world to discuss with the young demigod, and were making numerous additions to Crete arts, architecture and culture. Knossos was becoming the center of world.

But trouble was brewing in Athens once more. Worried that Athens would never be able to shake off Crete's domination if the Island stayed as powerful as it was under Asterion's guidance, king Egeas gathered a team of 14 Athenian warriors. They were to sail to Crete, infiltrate the royal palace and kill the demigod. The assassins sailed for seven days, under the guise of a merchant ship. They succeeded in infiltrating the palace, and arrived in Asterion's chamber. They would have been successful except for one boy. When they arrived, Minos was hosting Daedalus. He was an artist and inventor from Egypt, who had come to Crete to work under the patronage of Minos. Daedalus had a son, Icarus. Icarus and Asterion were the same age, and both were astutely intelligent. They spent a lot of time together. When the Athenians assassins arrived in Asterion's chambers, Icarus was there with him, showing him his father's latest invention : a pair of wings allowing a man to fly like a bird. When the strangers barged into the chamber, Icarus instantly grabbed his friend and leapt through the window. The wings could not sustain their combined weight. Their flight was brief, and the crash broke Icarus' legs badly. But the wings and Icarus' initiative had saved their life. They were out of reach of the assassins, who died at the hand of the palace guard.

The attack terrified Minos and Pasiphaé. They could not imagine to lose another child. They asked Daedalus to rebuild the palace as a maze, so that a outsider would be utterly lost and could not find Asterion's chamber. Daedalus accepted, and soon the new version of the palace, called the Labyrinth, was under construction. On one hand, it was a wise decision, for king Egeas did not renounced his assassination plot. Every three years, he would assemble a new team of assassins and send them to Crete. But always the Labyrinth defeated them. Asterion was safe within its walls. But that protection was a prison as well. He had grown free to wander all over Crete, and was now confined to the Labyrinth for his own security. His family and Icarus would keep him company, but the young prince longed for freedom.

The years passed, and the recluse prince became a young man. Minos and Pasiphaé had aged, and the question of their succession had started to become more pressing. Everyone agreed that Asterion should become the next king of Crete, even if he was the youngest son. He was a demigod, and he had already demonstrated what an intelligent and just ruler he would be. But his parents were reluctant to let him leave the labyrinth and live among his subjects, and he could not be a recluse king. So Minos stayed on the throne, even as he felt the weight of the years pile up on his shoulders.  
All of Asterion's siblings were in agreement with him getting the crown. That is to say, all of them but one. Ariadne was the second youngest, but she felt like a profound injustice that her brother was to bypass the line of succession. That feeling was ancient. When Asterion was born she had resented not being the youngest anymore. When the Labyrinth was built for him, she was furious that no one had built *her* a palace. She liked Icarus but he would spent all of his time with her brother, cuddling with this distorted half-bull, this half-brother from another bed depriving her from her birthright. Over the years, Ariadne dislike turned to hatred, and hatred turned to cold resolution. There were already people out set to kill the monster. All they needed was a little inside help.

So she went to Athens. There never had been definitive proof, but it wasn't hard guessing where the assassins were coming from. Ariadne sought out Theseus, King Egeas' son. Once she found him, it was all too easy making him believe she was a maiden in distress, in love with his royal person, and desperate for his help killing the monster tyrannizing Crete. If only a hero as himself would defeat the monster and save the girl! Theseus swallowed it all, hook line and sinker. He resolved to lead the next assassin squad. Ariadne would guide them through the labyrinth to Asterion's chamber, and there the prince would kill the monster. The second part of the plan, that Ariadne kept to herself, was to have the Athenian executed, and with Theseus head as proof of Athens implication in the murder, kill king Egeas as well and put a Cretan governor in charge of Athens. Two birds with one stone, it was simple and elegant. They agreed on a meeting place, and Ariadne went back to Crete, inconspicuous.

A few months later, by a moonless night, she watched the Athenian ship - invisible with its black sails - run aground on a Cretan beach. Theseus was indeed leading the Assassins. She made a point of displaying her delight at seeing her big strong hero again, how she had longed for him and so on. Then she lead them to the Labyrinth. Navigating the inner corridors of the maze-like palace was easy for her. She pushed the hidden doors and the pivoting walls without even thinking about it. But around the corner of a corridor, they found themselves face to face with Cretan guards. The fight started instantly, the Cretan were aware it had been three years since the last team of assassins were caught in the Labyrinth. One of the Cretan had run to sound the alarm. If they didn't kill Asterion soon they would not have a second chance. Ariadne seized Theseus by the arm. "Let them fend off the guards and follow me, this is your only chance to fulfill your destiny!" Theseus gave a last look to his companions and followed Ariadne away from the fight.  
They soon reached Asterion's chamber. A guard was on duty but it did not understood the princess was a threat until her dagger had found its way to his heart. Theseus came out of the shadows and joined her in front of the wooden door.  
"The monster is inside. Be swift and deliver us all", she whispered to Theseus.

Asterion was writing poetry at his desk when the stranger barged into his room, his sword already drawn. "Die, monster!" So it was an Athenian. How had he found his way across the Labyrinth? Now wasn't the best time to ponder about that. The prince of Crete stood up and used his chair as a makeshift staff to counter the blow from his opponent. This time, Icarus wasn't here to help escape. But if he could make it to the door... He looked at the exit. Ariadne! He was saved! "Help me!" His sister draw a dagger, but instead of attacking his aggressor, she just stood in the doorway, ready to strike... blocking him? He dodge a new blow from the assassin as his view of the universe shifted. His sister was an enemy. She was the one who had led this man here. She wouldn't be any help. An armed attacker. A blocked door. A window way to high to jump without wings. Think, Asterion, think... Yes, that could work.

The demigod blocked another blow, and another, slowly retreating, until the window was at his back. "Don't let him escape!" hissed Ariadne. But that wasn't Asterion intention. As his assailant attacked him by the left to force him away from the window, the young demigod was all to happy to oblige. He parried to the right, went under the guard of his opponent and crashed his chair as hard as he could on his back. The man staggered, took a feet forward the window, as the chair dislocated. Now or never. Asterion crashed into the assassin, getting him halfway through the window. The man grabbed the frame of the opening. Asterion had to act fast, Ariadne was at his back and in no time she would step in and stab him. He picked up two splintered piece of the chair and drove them in the side of his attacker, as hard as he could. The man screamed, as he let go of the frame. Asterion lunged into him once more, and this time the man went through and fell to his death. Asterion turned back, the bloodied splinters still in his hands. Ariadne was looking at him with horror, all idea of attacking him gone. "Why, Ariadne?" She let her dagger fall to the floor and ran out of the chamber as fast as she could, without answering him. The demigod sighed, and stepped into the corridors of the Labyrinth, looking for palace guards to warn of what had just happened.

The next morning, the sun rose on a different Crete. Theseus corpse made clear two things: Athens was beyond reasonable doubt responsible for the assassinations attempt, and Asterion was more than able to defend himself. In front of his parents, he explained how he wanted to matter to be handled. For her treason, Ariadne was to be ostracized from Crete, and exiled to Naxos. Egeas was to be executed and his body thrown to the sea without burial, an offering to Asterion's godly father. They would let the Athenians chose a new ruler, but not a king, an appointed one, who would answer both to his people and to Crete. As for himself, his days of hiding away in the Labyrinth were over. He would go wherever he wanted in Crete, and participate in the life of the island.

His parents smiled to see their child filled with such determination. Minos stood up and said : "My son, truly Poseidon blessed us when he sent you to Crete. Today you have eased our worries, and proved that you will make a great king. When the time is right, you will sit on this throne, and become the greatest king that Crete will ever know. Until then, walk freely all over Crete, and spend your youth among our people, participating in the daily life of Crete. We kept you to ourselves too long, but today we see that you are a man, and that you must live as you wish. So I say, as the king of Crete. Now go, the world awaits you."

Asterion bowed and left the throne room. He walked the corridors of the palace, until its entrance. As he took is first step outside the Labyrinth for years, Icarus landed at his side. Together, the two young men contemplated Crete in front of them, ready to start their hero's journey.

**Author's Note:**

>  _Asterion and the Treason of Ariadne_ is the founding myth of Crete, the "origin story", as we would say today, of the king whose reign started Crete's Golden Age. The status of Crete as the cultural lighthouse and leading power of the Mediterranean only ended in 423 BC, when the Barcelonean navy successfully invaded the island. Before that, Crete's colonies and trading counters played a key role in the diffusion of goods and ideas all across the sea, spreading their concept of constitutional monarchy.  
> The existence of a king called Asterion is not in doubt, but it is possible that the mythological figure mixes several kings of Crete. The most likely candidate is nevertheless the second Asterion, nicknamed the Bull of Crete, son of Minos, whose victory against Athens is documented. Several sources throughout the Mediterranean sea mention a king Asterion of Crete, suffering from deformities but extremely intelligent. The deformities of Asterion where probably considered as a sign of the Gods, giving credit to the legend of him being the son of Poseidon.  
> The digs in Knossos revealed the foundation of a large structure with elaborate ornamentation, a good candidate for the royal palace called the Labyrinth. The unusual size of the building compared to the structures of the same age and its complex organization plan explains how the myth of the protective maze came to be.  
> The existence of Icarus is still subject to controversy but the dig in Knossos also revealed the tomb of a man named Karos, with legs suffering numerous fractures and who received the burial of a royal spouse.


End file.
